Spiritual oasis found in organic garden, great article on one of SCPG members

[Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson]

http://news.newspress.com/westmont/0904oasis.htm
<http://news.newspress.com/np_home/fnews.html>


Spiritual oasis found in organic garden




9/4/00

By RHONDA PARKS MANVILLE

NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER

<mailto:rparks at newspress.com>rparks at newspress<mailto:rparks at newspress.com>.com

When Glorianna Buynak ventures into town to run errands, she's always happy 
to return to her chickens, trees and plants on seven serene acres at the 
edge of Santa Barbara.

"I go downtown and my head spins," she said. "I have to spend a certain 
amount of time in my garden to get over that."

Buynak's garden is her spiritual oasis, a place where she communes with 
nature and grows organic food for her and her husband, Tim, a lawyer. The 
garden has become her way of life and she hopes that someday the practice 
is common, instead of rare.

"How we grow food and eat food is a form of practicing devotion. It becomes 
our communion -- or common union with the earth," said Buynak, a member of 
the Sisters of Earth environmental network. "There's a real healing from 
plants that you can't get from other things -- a lot of that energy is the 
missing link."

Buynak's colorful, peaceful garden contains native live oaks, pines and 
redwoods, along with vegetables and herbs, succulents, flowers, citrus and 
other fruits, and majestic, sweeping pepper trees. The plants are linked by 
soft, meandering paths lined with wood chips and other natural materials. 
There is no asphalt or concrete, not even in the parking area. Composting 
turns organic waste into rich soil that is folded back into the earth. Two 
donkeys control the weeds and produce manure for fertilizer.

The garden is her sanctuary, her source for spiritual guidance and her 
teacher. But this was not always so.

Ten years ago, Buynak was running on overdrive most the time. She owned a 
costume business and a bed-and-breakfast inn and managed property. In 
addition, she and her husband were raising two teen-agers.

Yearning for a break from all that business activity, the Buynaks 10 years 
ago bought the seven acres at Foothill and Laurel Canyon roads, which they 
later named "NamastŽ Santuario."

The purpose of the purchase was to live in harmony with nature. Glorianna 
planned to take a year off to work with the land, but 10 years later it is 
a full-time endeavor.

She was inspired through the writings of New Age ecologist Machaelle Small 
Wright to become a co-creator in the garden, growing plants believed to 
have curative powers. Buynak, her husband and son Todd also studied 
permaculture and have used those concepts to plant a sustainable garden.

"I wanted to return to a more simple way of life, and this really fills 
me," she said. "People shop and shop, and watch TV, and they feel hollow. 
Taking time to connect with nature is really magical. It helps you to feel 
part of the cycle."

The Buynaks' land serves as an example to others with similar interests. 
It's a private place, with access by invitation only.

Her advice to harried people who want to connect with nature? First, she 
recommends eating organic food and wearing organic cottons, the latter of 
which do not contain harmful, polluting dyes. And she urges people to 
reduce, reuse and recycle.

For the more ambitious, she suggests composting waste and growing organic 
food. It's not as hard as one might think, she said.

"Take out your lawn, turn off the news and plant food," she says. "This is 
the creation, the Garden of Eden. Let's take care of it."

























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